clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile
A stack of fluffy pancakes topped with blueberries, whipped ricotta, and salted honey butter.
Brown butter pancakes at Puritan & Co.
Puritan & Co.

10 Top-Notch Brunches Around Boston

Stacks of pancakes, endless dim sum, crispy fried chicken, and more

View as Map
Brown butter pancakes at Puritan & Co.
| Puritan & Co.

When done right, brunch is the weekend personified. It’s the luxury of personal time to linger over eggs Benedict, syrup-laden French toast, piping hot coffee, and boozy beverages. Boston readily embraces the weekend ritual with all-you-can-eat brunch buffets, baklava pancakes, and an endless parade of dim sum. Scroll below for a sampling of 10 excellent Boston-area brunch options.

Read More
Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process. If you buy something or book a reservation from an Eater link, Vox Media may earn a commission. See our ethics policy.

The Neighborhood Restaurant

Copy Link

Classic breakfast options and huge portions abound at this aptly named neighborhood restaurant in Somerville’s Union Square. Eggs, French toast, home fries, pancakes, omelets, and more are all on the menu at the family-run restaurant that has been around since 1983. The Borges family’s Portuguese roots show up in some of the dishes. A must-have is the Cream of Wheat, which also comes as one of the appetizer choices with any breakfast selection. Venture onto other pages of the menu for huge, flavor-packed pancakes, French toast, and more.

Puritan & Company

Copy Link

When one of the best pastry chefs in Boston is involved in any sort of brunch game, we sit up and take notice. Case in point: Inman Square stalwart Puritan & Co. relaunched its Sunday brunch service this summer with pastries from sibling spot Cafe Beatrice, led by award-winning pastry chef Brian Mercury. Get the pastry basket to start, and then order up a lavish spread of brown butter pancakes, barbecued shrimp and grits, smoked brisket hash, and more.

Vincent's

Copy Link

Vincent’s, run by the same team behind hip Jewish deli Mamaleh’s, does a Texas-style brunch on the weekends worth rolling out of bed for. The spread includes breakfast tacos served on housemade flour tortillas, saucy tortas, and puffy kolaches baked with sweet and savory fillings. Get there early if you’re eyeing a kolache, as those typically sell out before the day is done.

Three tacos, each in an individual brown cardboard serving vessel, are arranged on a large plate.
Breakfast tacos at Vincent’s.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Brookline Lunch

Copy Link

The name is a bit of a misnomer; Brookline Lunch serves breakfast and brunch all day in Cambridge (on Brookline Street, to be fair; and sure, there’s lunch too). Dating all the way back to 1937, this old-timey spot has become especially popular in recent years for its pancakes, especially the baklava pancakes, which were originally meant to be a special but jumped to the regular menu. The rest of the breakfast menu is full of eggs: omelets, Benedicts, and such. Cash only.

A green ceramic bowl filled with veggies, pita wedges, poached eggs, and chickpeas.
The za’atar egg bowl at Brookline Lunch.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Winsor Dim Sum Café

Copy Link

Get an early start or prepare to wait for a seat at Winsor, a snug Chinatown restaurant known for its excellent dim sum. Don’t miss the turnip cakes, spare ribs with black bean sauce, and preserved egg and pork congee, all on the $5.69 dim sum menu. Cash only. (If you prefer your dim sum whizzing by in carts while you’re seated in a banquet hall, nearby Empire Garden and Hei La Moon are great options.)

Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen

Copy Link

Buckle in for an all-you-can-eat jazz brunch fest at Southern comfort food favorite Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen. Unlimited quantities of eggs, fried catfish, cheddar grits, and waffles await for $25.95 per person (for adults), $22.95 (for seniors), or $19.95 (for kids ages 6 to 12). It’s only available on Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A plate with a red buttermilk waffle slice, grits, green beans, eggs, and a cornbread muffin.
Sunday brunch at Darryl’s.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Publico Street Bistro & Garden

Copy Link

Publico’s brunch is a choose-your-own-adventure of sorts: Go big and boozy with bags of doughnuts and alcohol-spiked breakfast frappes, or just relax over a tasty plate of hot chicken Benedicts blanketed in the restaurant’s special hot sauce hollandaise. There’s also year-round patio seating in the restaurant’s interior courtyard, outfitted with a retractable roof.

Lincoln Tavern & Restaurant

Copy Link

With both weekday brunch and weekend brunch, plus a shiny new award from Boston Magazine for best brunch in the city, this Southie hot spot knows its way around this formative meal. From the griddle, the fruity pebble pancakes — which have become somewhat of a signature dish for the restaurant — are doused in a cereal milk anglaise, and there is brioche French toast topped with berries and cream. There are plenty of options leaning in the lunch direction as well, from entree-sized salads to wood-fired pizzas.

Pancakes covered in a pink syrup and topped with fruity pebbles cereal.
The famed fruity pebble pancakes.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Brassica Kitchen + Cafe

Copy Link

Brassica’s crispy, crunchy fried chicken is legendary around Boston. Get it at brunch via a hefty plate of fried chicken and waffles, but don’t stop there. Grab a fluffy, thick doughnut from the pastry case near the door and then settle into a brunchtime feast of epic proportions, from the white bean pupusas with chili crisp to the compulsory cheesy corn cachapa.

Via Cannuccia

Copy Link

This cozy little Italian newcomer in Dorchester is already stealing hearts at dinnertime, but those in the know are returning during the daytime on Saturday and Sunday for chef Stefano Quaresima’s eye-catching array of Italian pastries and excellent brunch service. Don’t miss the crostata romana carbonara, a quiche with egg yolks, cream, cheese, and pancetta poured into a pastry shell made from decadent French brisée dough. It comes with salad and fried, smashed potatoes on the side; which sounds simple, but Quaresima treats these potatoes with the kind of care usually reserved for high-end proteins. According to the chef, the spuds are blanched, roasted, and fried over a painstaking 48-hour period, and the time and effort shows in the crispy, well-seasoned results.

The Neighborhood Restaurant

Classic breakfast options and huge portions abound at this aptly named neighborhood restaurant in Somerville’s Union Square. Eggs, French toast, home fries, pancakes, omelets, and more are all on the menu at the family-run restaurant that has been around since 1983. The Borges family’s Portuguese roots show up in some of the dishes. A must-have is the Cream of Wheat, which also comes as one of the appetizer choices with any breakfast selection. Venture onto other pages of the menu for huge, flavor-packed pancakes, French toast, and more.

Puritan & Company

When one of the best pastry chefs in Boston is involved in any sort of brunch game, we sit up and take notice. Case in point: Inman Square stalwart Puritan & Co. relaunched its Sunday brunch service this summer with pastries from sibling spot Cafe Beatrice, led by award-winning pastry chef Brian Mercury. Get the pastry basket to start, and then order up a lavish spread of brown butter pancakes, barbecued shrimp and grits, smoked brisket hash, and more.

Vincent's

Vincent’s, run by the same team behind hip Jewish deli Mamaleh’s, does a Texas-style brunch on the weekends worth rolling out of bed for. The spread includes breakfast tacos served on housemade flour tortillas, saucy tortas, and puffy kolaches baked with sweet and savory fillings. Get there early if you’re eyeing a kolache, as those typically sell out before the day is done.

Three tacos, each in an individual brown cardboard serving vessel, are arranged on a large plate.
Breakfast tacos at Vincent’s.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Brookline Lunch

The name is a bit of a misnomer; Brookline Lunch serves breakfast and brunch all day in Cambridge (on Brookline Street, to be fair; and sure, there’s lunch too). Dating all the way back to 1937, this old-timey spot has become especially popular in recent years for its pancakes, especially the baklava pancakes, which were originally meant to be a special but jumped to the regular menu. The rest of the breakfast menu is full of eggs: omelets, Benedicts, and such. Cash only.

A green ceramic bowl filled with veggies, pita wedges, poached eggs, and chickpeas.
The za’atar egg bowl at Brookline Lunch.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Winsor Dim Sum Café

Get an early start or prepare to wait for a seat at Winsor, a snug Chinatown restaurant known for its excellent dim sum. Don’t miss the turnip cakes, spare ribs with black bean sauce, and preserved egg and pork congee, all on the $5.69 dim sum menu. Cash only. (If you prefer your dim sum whizzing by in carts while you’re seated in a banquet hall, nearby Empire Garden and Hei La Moon are great options.)

Darryl's Corner Bar & Kitchen

Buckle in for an all-you-can-eat jazz brunch fest at Southern comfort food favorite Darryl’s Corner Bar & Kitchen. Unlimited quantities of eggs, fried catfish, cheddar grits, and waffles await for $25.95 per person (for adults), $22.95 (for seniors), or $19.95 (for kids ages 6 to 12). It’s only available on Sundays, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

A plate with a red buttermilk waffle slice, grits, green beans, eggs, and a cornbread muffin.
Sunday brunch at Darryl’s.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Publico Street Bistro & Garden

Publico’s brunch is a choose-your-own-adventure of sorts: Go big and boozy with bags of doughnuts and alcohol-spiked breakfast frappes, or just relax over a tasty plate of hot chicken Benedicts blanketed in the restaurant’s special hot sauce hollandaise. There’s also year-round patio seating in the restaurant’s interior courtyard, outfitted with a retractable roof.

Lincoln Tavern & Restaurant

With both weekday brunch and weekend brunch, plus a shiny new award from Boston Magazine for best brunch in the city, this Southie hot spot knows its way around this formative meal. From the griddle, the fruity pebble pancakes — which have become somewhat of a signature dish for the restaurant — are doused in a cereal milk anglaise, and there is brioche French toast topped with berries and cream. There are plenty of options leaning in the lunch direction as well, from entree-sized salads to wood-fired pizzas.

Pancakes covered in a pink syrup and topped with fruity pebbles cereal.
The famed fruity pebble pancakes.
Erika Adams/Eater Boston

Brassica Kitchen + Cafe

Brassica’s crispy, crunchy fried chicken is legendary around Boston. Get it at brunch via a hefty plate of fried chicken and waffles, but don’t stop there. Grab a fluffy, thick doughnut from the pastry case near the door and then settle into a brunchtime feast of epic proportions, from the white bean pupusas with chili crisp to the compulsory cheesy corn cachapa.

Via Cannuccia

This cozy little Italian newcomer in Dorchester is already stealing hearts at dinnertime, but those in the know are returning during the daytime on Saturday and Sunday for chef Stefano Quaresima’s eye-catching array of Italian pastries and excellent brunch service. Don’t miss the crostata romana carbonara, a quiche with egg yolks, cream, cheese, and pancetta poured into a pastry shell made from decadent French brisée dough. It comes with salad and fried, smashed potatoes on the side; which sounds simple, but Quaresima treats these potatoes with the kind of care usually reserved for high-end proteins. According to the chef, the spuds are blanched, roasted, and fried over a painstaking 48-hour period, and the time and effort shows in the crispy, well-seasoned results.

Related Maps